New Socialist Worker (UK) online

international | miscellaneous | other press Wednesday September 28, 2005 10:04 by mick - swp

www.socialistworker.org.uk

Highlights
HEATHROW: PLOT TO BREAK UNION
In a Socialist Worker exclusive Charlie Kimber reports on how British Airways bosses are targeting the T&G leader » more


Blair dumps planet
Blair has announced that he is “changing his thinking” about climate change — falling into line with George Bush yet again, despite his promises to focus on the problem » more


Unions demand change, but Blair’s not for turning
When Labour chairman Ian McCartney has to shut down a party national executive meeting in order to prevent it endorsing a conference motion backing union rights, you know Tony Blair’s grip is loosening » more


How Iraq’s dead were counted
A letter in last week’s Socialist Worker asked what evidence there was for the figure of over 100,000 dead in Iraq, which has frequently been quoted in this paper » more


Why the left is celebrating in Germany
Stefan Bornost examines the success of the Left Party in the German elections » more


Michael Rosen: league tables of pain
Is the Holocaust a unique event or should all acts of genocide be commemorated with a day of remembrance? asks Michael Rosen » more



Full contents
News
» Heathrow: plot to break union

In a Socialist Worker exclusive Charlie Kimber reports on how British Airways bosses are targeting the T&G leader

» Blair dumps planet

Blair has announced that he is “changing his thinking” about climate change — falling into line with George Bush yet again, despite his promises to focus on the problem

» Pensions crisis myth exposed

The government is soon going to attack everybody’s pensions — on this question Gordon Brown and Tony Blair are united as one

» Spurned by Labour — demanding pension funds justice

Willie Riggins, who was the T&G convenor at United Engineering Forgings in Ayrshire where hundreds of workers lost their pensions, spoke to Socialist Worker

» Unions demand change, but Blair’s not for turning

When Labour chairman Ian McCartney has to shut down a party national executive meeting in order to prevent it endorsing a conference motion backing union rights, you know Tony Blair’s grip is loosening

» Gate Gourmet workers should be proud of their stand

A deal to end the bitter dispute at catering firm Gate Gourmet was announced at the start of this week

» Leaving Labour after 44 years

Dave Hill joined the Labour Party on his 16th birthday in October 1961

» Protest against post privatisation threat

Postal workers met at Labour’s conference on Monday to protest against plans for privatisation and competition with private firms

» Housing democracy denied by demolition plan

Four years ago council tenants on the Aylesbury estate, south London, voted to oppose the transfer of their 2,700 council homes to the private sector

» Southwark council also attacks the elderly

Residents and council workers in Southwark met on Thursday of last week to launch a campaign against another attack launched by the Liberal Democrat led council

» Free Omar from Guantanamo

On the day the Labour Party conference began in Brighton, around 300 protesters joined the biggest demonstration yet for the release of Brighton resident Omar Deghayes who has been incarcerated for three years in Guantanamo Bay

» Campaign to save NHS launched

Health activists, trade unionists, academics, MPs and celebrities have come together to launch a new campaign to oppose further attacks on the NHS

» Blair’s hopes lie buried in Basra

As the calls for British troops to leave Iraq grow louder, the anti-war movement has to step up a gear to end the occupation, writes Lindsey German

» ‘George Bush is on the way down’

Longstanding US activist Tom Hayden spoke to Socialist Worker

» Military families on anti-war protest

Philip Hewitt, a British soldier, was killed in Iraq ten weeks ago

» Protest against the government’s new asylum rules

The first national demonstration against Section 9, the new power under the 2004 Asylum and Immigration Act to make families of ‘failed’ asylum seekers destitute, threaten eviction and even to take the children into care — is being held in Bolton on 1 October, this Saturday

» Who says?

Snippets from the week's news

International
» Brazilian left gains as corruption scandal haunts Lula

Leadership elections have exposed the deepening disillusionment

» Kalahari Bushmen driven off their land

Protesters gathered last week outside the De Beers diamond shop in London in solidarity with the Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana, southern Africa

» International round-up

Peru | Paraguay | Colombia

» Washington protest biggest since Iraq war started

Hundreds of thousands of people protested in Washington last Saturday showing that the movement against the Iraq war is ­growing in strength across the US

Comment
» How Iraq’s dead were counted

A letter in last week’s Socialist Worker asked what evidence there was for the figure of over 100,000 dead in Iraq, which has frequently been quoted in this paper

Features
» The Cathars — heretics who can inspire us today

Elaine Graham-Leigh looks at a crusade fought on European soil, and shows how religious heresy became a powerful reflection of discontent from below during the Middle Ages

» Timeline of the Albigensian Crusade

How the crusade attacked the Cathars

» Why the left is celebrating in Germany

Stefan Bornost examines the success of the Left Party in the German elections

» Winners and losers in Germany’s election

Politics has changed because of the WASG and the Left Party, according to WASG MP Werner Dreibus and Janine Wissler, WASG director in Hessen

» Europe’s radical left welcome Left Party’s success

Congratulations from leading members of the Party of the European Left, The Scottish Socialist Party and Portugal's Left Bloc

» Trevor Phillips's groundless fear of racial segregation

After a week of media hype over urban ‘ghettoes’, Joseph Choonara talks to people living in Leicester to sort out the myths and reality of ethnic diversity

Letters
» Letters

Labour in 1945 | Students and Respect | Charles Clarke and prisons | Pensions battle in private sector | Sharon game in Gaza | Left in Sweden | Greens in Germany | Call centres

Reviews
» The voices, images and history of black people

Socialist Worker looks at some of the cultural highlights of Black History Month

» News from Nowhere: Visions of Utopia

This exhibition is a collection of personal — and sometimes wayward — takes on the theme of Utopia by a large and varied group of international artists, designers and musicians

» Yo Yo Mundi strike a lively note of resistance in Italy

Paolo Archetti Maestri, lead singer of Italian folk rock band Yo Yo Mundi, spoke to Tom Behan about their new show Resistenza

» Reviews round-up

Battleship Potemkin | Hakim | Howl’s Moving Castle

Editorial
» Blair and Brown: divided by ambition, united by policies

Labour conference | Northern Ireland

Debate and Comment
» Michael Rosen: league tables of pain

Is the Holocaust a unique event or should all acts of genocide be commemorated with a day of remembrance? asks Michael Rosen

News & Reports
» Grampian Foods gives lean deal to its workers

Workers at Europe’s biggest supermarket meat supplier struck on Friday of last week to defend their pensions

» Ballot over pensions at Exel/BP

A pivotal group of oil tanker drivers who currently work for logistics company Exel delivering fuel for BP, is to vote on strikes in defence of their pension rights

» Strike vote in the DWP

Members of the PCS civil service workers’ union in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in London last week voted overwhelmingly to strike over job cuts

» Reports round-up

Driving Standards Agency | Morrisons | Rhetta Moran | Unity at Mersey | Brent protest against city academy | Conference Against City Academies

» Firefighters in Nottinghamshire vote for action

Nottinghamshire fire crews have voted four to one in favour of taking industrial action short of a strike over moves to force them to provide an ambulance service

» West Midlands fire service cuts threaten safety

West Midlands firefighters have agreed to press for a ballot on industrial action over changes to their working practices

» Middlesex University suspends student president

Keith Shilson, student union president at Middlesex University, London, is fighting against a decision by management to suspend him from the college

» Restaurant workers protest could be ‘tip’ of iceberg

Restaurant workers demonstrated for pay justice in central London on Tuesday

» Co-operation breaks down at the CIS

Financial Advisers working at the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) launched a two-day national strike this week over new contracts that could leave them 30 percent worse off

» Community shocked as Sajid family is deported

The local community in Teesside in the north east of England were shocked last week when immigration officials snatched and deported the Sajid family to Pakistan

» Drivers at First Bus strike in Edinburgh

Drivers who work for First Bus in Edinburgh took two days of strike action on Sunday and Monday of this week as part of their fight over pay

» Anti-war protest at Tower Hamlets council meeting

Tower Hamlets councillors were surprised to see protesters brandishing anti-war placards and housing banners outside their meeting this month

» Selective strike action to start in Sefton

Council workers in the Unison union in Sefton, Merseyside, are to start an escalating series of selective actions in their battle against the victimisation of two union reps

» Tower Hamlets victimises DCH campaigner

Unison shop steward and Defend Council Housing campaigner Eileen Short is facing redundancy after her bosses at Tower Hamlets council in east London attempted to push her out of her job as press officer

» Lecturers challenge pay attack at London Met

Lecturers at London Metropolitan University have voted almost unanimously to accept a new negotiated contract

Obituary
» Majer Bogdanski 1912–2005

Miriam Scharf looks at the life of a great Jewish socialist who died recently